The present invention relates to the field of software engineering and, more particularly, to visualization of stereotype element instances within a unified modeling language model.
Stereotypes are one of three extensibility mechanisms in Unified Modeling Language (UML). They allow designers to extend the vocabulary of UML in order to create new model elements, derived from existing ones, but that have specific properties that are suitable for a particular problem domain or otherwise specialized usage.
Graphically, a stereotype is conventionally rendered within a CASE modeling tool as a name enclosed by guillemets (i.e., between <<and >>) and placed above the name of another element. If more than one stereotype is applied to a modeling element, they are delimited by commas within the guillemets.
This convention results in a number of problems when using modeling tools. For example, since stereotype applications are tied to a name of an element, they cannot be individually selected by a user of a conventional modeling tool. Thus, a modeler is unable to select an individual stereotype within a graphical modeling application (e.g., a CASE tool) and invoke a mechanism to change the value of attributes associated with the selected stereotype. In another example, it is non-intuitive and awkward to force a user to select a modeling element within a modeling application in order to modify values of attributes that are part of the stereotype application, which is a current technique utilized by UML modeling tools. The awkwardness results because the stereotype attributes being modified are not directly related to the selected element.